


Cor Rubrum, Spiritus Aurum

by Catsofwar108



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Murderous Chara, On Hiatus, Soul!Sans, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6270325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsofwar108/pseuds/Catsofwar108
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans was tired. Tired of the RESETs, tired of DETERMINATION, tired of seeing everyone die, tired of being alone, tired of Chara. He was tired of killing. He was tired of being killed.</p><p>He just wanted it to be over.</p><p>Fortunately he gets the chance to do just that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which Sans realizes something is wrong.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amber-acrylic](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=amber-acrylic).



> I think this is canon, but at the same time I'm not really sure. So it's... uh... a cat. It's a cat. Not even a story anymore, it's just a freaking cat.

Sans awoke, tumbling off the side of his bed and onto a pile of socks. He grabbed at his stomach, feeling for the gash that he felt every night since about a week ago. Or maybe it’s been a month. A year? He wasn’t sure. Huffing, he stood and said words that seemed very familiar. “It’s just a nightmare. Just… just a nightmare.”

“SAAAAANS?!” Papyrus yelled from the downstairs. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMETHING.”

A small jolt of panic shot through him. He couldn’t, no, WOULDN’T let Papyrus know about his nightmares. “Nah, everything’s cool up here, Paps. Just… uh… organizing my sock collection.” Mentally he smacked himself. _Sock collection? Seriously?_

Thumping sounds came from the stairs, signalling his younger brother coming up. “Really? I didn’t know you had a sock collection.” Papyrus’ voice came, muffled from the door.

 _Puns! Think of puns…. I’VE NEVER HAD TO THINK OF PUNS BEFORE._ “Y-yeah, well, I’ve been, um-”

“Sans.” His brother’s disapproving face appeared in the doorway.

“Uh, _stocking_ them up.”

“Sans no.”

“Sans yes.”

A groan of frustration came from the taller skeleton, who was already dressed and ready for the day. “It is much too early for this. We still have to find a human, Sans! Are your puzzles even calibrated?”

“Gee, I don’t know.” Sans made a show of thinking. “It’s really-”

“Sans, STOP.”

“ _Puzzling_ me.”

Papyrus groaned louder and rattled his bones. “That was horrible.”

This was the signal to start getting ready for the day. It always happened like this. Always. Papyrus would come in, Sans would tell some jokes - the same jokes - and then he would get dressed, shedding his t-shirt in favor for a plain white shirt and a jacket. With that done, he walked out onto the landing, admiring how his brother could be so high energy so early in the morning.

“BROTHER!” Papyrus yelled, clearly excited. “I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT TODAY!”

“Really?” He already knew what the response would be. Somehow.

“YES, INDEED! I FEEL THAT THE HUMAN WILL COME TODAY, AND I’LL BE THE FIRST TO CAPTURE IT!” When Papyrus got talking about a human, he couldn’t stop. And it was the same today. Like it had been, for the past few days. “I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ON- HMM? WHAT IS IT SANS?”

“Bro,” Sans began, rubbing a finger where his ear would’ve been. “Calm down. I’m sure you’ll get to see the human.”

“REALLY?” Papyrus squealed, getting those little stars in his eyes. “DO YOU THINK THAT I’LL GET TO CAPTURE IT TOO? DO YOU… DO YOU THINK IT LIKES SPAGHETTI?” He asked hopefully, staring at Sans expectantly.

“What did we say about volume?” Sans chuckled. “And yeah. Yeah I think it likes spaghetti.”

“Okay!” Papyrus whisper-yelled, before opening the door and dashing off, yelling about something about puzzles.

Sans’ grin was a bit more sincere as he watched his eccentric little bro run off to do what he loved.

 

* * *

   

“So… I guess that’s it then, huh?” The gash this time was no nightmare, being very real and very big. What looked like blood oozed out from it, and a sudden realization hit Sans. _So THAT’S where all my ketchup’s gone…_

Funny the things you think when you’re dying.

“Welp!” He announced, watching the thing in front of him start. A perverse enjoyment came from scaring it. He grinned, a bit wider. “I’m going to Grillby’s…” A name popped out from nowhere. “Frisk.”

The thing seemed taken aback, and it glared at the skeleton. “My name…” It shouted, before running at him, slicing his head off of his shoulders. “Is CHARA!”

Due to the fact that he was a skeleton, he could exist for a little while without a body. He watched in silent horror as a foot invaded his vision, and began to press down on his skull. “See ya, comedian.” They sneered.

CRACK

CRACK

CRUNCH

The dusted foot-prints led to the castle.  

 

* * *

   

Sans awoke, tumbling off the side of his bed and onto a pile of socks. He grabbed at his stomach, feeling for the gash that he felt every night since about a week ago. Or maybe it’s been a month. A year? He wasn’t sure. Huffing, he stood and said words that seemed very familiar. “It’s just a nightmare. Just… just a nightmare.”

“SAAAAANS?!” Papyrus yelled from the downstairs. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMETHING.”

A small jolt of panic shot through him. He couldn’t, no, WOULDN’T let Papyrus know about his nightmares. “Nah, everything’s cool up here, Paps. Just… uh… organizing my sock collection.” Mentally he smacked himself. _Sock collection? Seriously?_

Thumping sounds came from the stairs, signalling his younger brother coming up. “Really? I didn’t know you had a sock collection.” Papyrus’ voice came, muffled from the door.

 _Puns! Think of puns…. I’VE NEVER HAD TO THINK OF PUNS BEFORE._ “Y-yeah, well, I’ve been, um-”

“Sans.” His brother’s disapproving face appeared in the doorway.

“Uh, _stocking_ them up.”

“Sans no.”

“Sans yes.”

A groan of frustration came from the taller skeleton, who was already dressed and ready for the day. “It is much too early for this. We still have to find a human, Sans! Are your puzzles even calibrated?”

“Gee, I don’t know.” Sans made a show of thinking. “It’s really-”

“Sans, STOP.”

“ _Puzzling_ me.”

Papyrus groaned louder and rattled his bones. “That was horrible.”

This was the signal to start getting ready for the day. It always happened like this. Always. Papyrus would come in, Sans would tell some jokes - the same jokes - and then he would get dressed, shedding his t-shirt in favor for a plain white shirt and a jacket. With that done, he walked out onto the landing, admiring how his brother could be so high energy so early in the morning.

“BROTHER!” Papyrus yelled, clearly excited. “I HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT TODAY!”

“Really?” He already knew what the response would be. Somehow.

“YES, INDEED! I FEEL THAT THE HUMAN WILL COME TODAY, AND I’LL BE THE FIRST TO CAPTURE IT!” When Papyrus got talking about a human, he couldn’t stop. And it was the same today. Like it had been, for the past few days. “I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ON- HMM? WHAT IS IT SANS?”

“Bro,” Sans began, rubbing a finger where his ear would’ve been. “Calm down. I’m sure you’ll get to see the human.”

“REALLY?” Papyrus squealed, getting those little stars in his eyes. “DO YOU THINK THAT I’LL GET TO CAPTURE IT TOO? DO YOU… DO YOU THINK IT LIKES SPAGHETTI?” He asked hopefully, staring at Sans expectantly.

“What did we say about volume?” Sans chuckled. “And yeah. Yeah I think it likes spaghetti.”

“Okay!” Papyrus whisper-yelled, before opening the door and dashing off, yelling about something about puzzles.

Sans’ grin was a bit more sincere as he watched his eccentric little bro run off to do what he loved.

Again.

….

….

….

Wait....

His grin fell. This was familiar. Very familiar. He mouthed, “Come on, laz-”

“COME ON, LAZYBONES! THE HUMAN WON’T CAPTURE ITSELF!” Papyrus yelled from the other side of town, scaring a few monsters in the process.

His eyes shrunk down to mere pinpricks as his nightmare came to him in severe lucidity. “Oh, oh god, wait, Papyrus, Papyrus wait!” He didn’t shout. He was physically incapable of doing so. Instead he opted for his ‘shortcuts’, hoping he could catch up to Papyrus before he did anything that could be dangerous. _Or deadly_. His mind helpfully informed him.

Sans blinked at the trees he was facing, and soon faced his familiar guard post near that door. Looking around, he determined his brother hadn’t arrived yet, and decided that if anyone was going to meet the human first, it had better be him. Another shortcut. Now he was looking out towards the purple door, keeping his distance and staying behind the boulder near there.

His timing was impeccable it seemed, as not long after a real, live, _very familiar_ human walked through the door, it’s boots covered in dust. His eye sockets widened as the kid twirled a knife around in its hand. A toy knife, Sans noted. Behind the human, a trail of dust led back into the Ruins.

Quietly, he began to trail the human, walking directly behind it.

SNAP

The branch underneath him shattered, and he immediately teleported, due to the loud sound and the human twirling around, trying to find the perpetrator of the noise. Sans breathed heavily. He could tell with one look this was a bad human.

This was Chara.

 

* * *

  

“So… I guess that’s it then, huh?” The gash this time was no nightmare, being very real and very big. What looked like blood oozed out from it, and a sudden realization hit Sans. _So THAT’S where all my ketchup’s gone…_

Funny the things you think when you’re dying.

“Welp!” He announced, watching the thing in front of him start. A perverse enjoyment came from scaring it. He grinned, a bit wider. “I’m going to Grillby’s…” He began to hobble off. “By the way, Chara-”

The human looked at him with mild surprise, then grinned wide. “I guess you do remember RESETs after all. Oooh, comedian, you just made this a lot more interesting.” They rubbed their hands together, giggling. Part of Sans’ hand crumbled into dust.

“Yeah, I know, you’re kind of all murder-y and stuff.” He put up his hand that was still mostly intact, shaking it in a so-so motion as more of it crumbled to the floor. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about before you RESET again.” His expression turned serious as his entire body began dropping into dust.

“Oh?” Chara seemed taken aback again. “Oh. Oh! You want to know about Frisk, huh?” They smirked, tapping Sans’ skull, watching it cave in on itself. “Better ask fast, comedian!”

Sans grimaced as the feeling of being slowly killed overtook him. It was not a pleasant sensation. “Who’s Fri-”

“Oops!” Chara said, smacking his skull and sending his remains to float in the Judgement Hall.

 

* * *

        

“Okay!” Papyrus whisper-yelled, before opening the door and dashing off, yelling about something about puzzles.

Sans’ grin was a bit more sincere as he watched his eccentric little bro run off to do what he loved.

Again.

This time there was no hesitation. He dashed off in the other direction, appearing near the door to the Ruins. There he waited until the doors swung open and the human walked out. That confident walk. That glint in their eye. The knife.

“Dammit.” He hissed. Sans never used curses around his bro, as Papyrus was probably the most innocent monster in the Underground. However this occasion called for it. He teleported to in front of the gate, surprising the human.

“Heya, Chara.” He greeted, forgetting to put magic in his eye sockets, giving them a blank, creepy look. “Long time, no see.”

 

* * *

  

“You know…” Sans began, fingering his ruined jacket as ketchup bled all over it. Again. “You have a really sick sense of humor.”       

 

* * *

  

For the first time since Chara had begun their murder-spree, Sans’ face twisted into one of anger and hate, a look that didn’t suit his rapidly decaying face. “You’re really starting to get on my nerves, you little shit.”

Chara laughed, the hollow sound echoing around the hall.

               

* * *

  

Sans mentally prepared himself. Something different had happened this run. While the human had indeed killed every monster they came across like usual, they had spared Papyrus. Seeing the child, curled up in Papyrus’ arms and bawling… Sans was certain this was Frisk. Chara didn’t spare. Chara didn’t bawl.

Loud footsteps alerted him to the arrival of the human. “Heya.” He started, leaning into view. He always started like this.

Chara didn’t give him time to finish. They flew towards him, knife outstretched. Sans dodged, moving to the left and chuckled slightly as the human jumped to the side, expecting a wall of bones to fly towards them. “What’s the deal, comedian?!” Chara hissed, slicing at him again. “This is boring!”

“Why’d you do it?” Sans asked, emotionless as he dodged another knife strike. “Spare Paps, I mean.” Dodge. “Normally you would’ve dusted him, but not this time.” Dodge. “Well, I ain’t complaining.” He winked, enraging Chara. “Frisk’s still around, amiright?”

They screeched, and landed a solid blow on him, but they didn’t stop there. No, they stabbed, sliced, and hacked away at the skeleton, their knife soon touching nothing but dust.

      

* * *

 

“Ready buddy?” Sans whispered to the jar of dust next to him. “I have a good feeling about this run, Paps.” Zipping up his jacket, he walked out in front of Chara yet again. They had both lost track of how many times Chara, or maybe it was Frisk, RESET. “Heya.”

“When are you going to give up?” The demon hissed, looking agitated. “I just kill you and your friends every time! All the time! And I won’t stop.” They looked down, and got quiet. “...I can’t stop…”

Sans closed his eyes. “Let’s just get to the point.” His eye flared, and Chara looked up, smiling.

The battle raged, Sans dodging occasionally while keeping the human in a flurry of motion. “Just die, comedian!”

A skeletal hand shot out, sending Chara crashing to the ground. “How bout no?” Gaster Blasters surrounded them on all sides, leaving no room for escape. As strong as he was, Sans couldn’t make them all fire at once. Instead, he made them shoot out randomly, hoping to catch the demon off guard.

It didn’t work of course, and Chara dashed out, knife outstretched. Sans ducked to the left, only to feel the knife go through his jacket. “Huh. That was one of the shorter rounds.” He commented mildly as ketchup fell to the floor.

Chara roughly brushed past him, pushing him to the ground. “Try again next time, comedian.” They walked forward a bit, ready to hear the sound of the Smiley Trashbag dissolving.

They waited.

And waited.

Finally they turned around, only to be impaled with bones. However, they were still alive. “H-how!” Chara spluttered, struggling to get off the bone, only to have their own weight impale them further. “I-I killed you!” They hissed, staring at the skeleton kneeling on the ground.

Sans stood up, and laughed deeply. It was cold, nothing like the warm laughs that normally passed his teeth. “You didn’t kill me, but these ketchup bottles don’t look so good.” He said, unzipping his jacket only for eight bottles of ketchup with a long slice down them all to tumble out. “I’m actually fine.”

Chara writhed around, trying to reach the knife on the floor that had fallen out of their hand in surprise. “Yo-you…”

“Looks like the player,” Sans walked over and picked up the knife. “Has been played.”

“Give. That. BACK!” Chara screamed through gritted teeth.

Sans ignored them. “How much health you got left, kid?” He said, looking at the knife carefully. With a deft flick, he sent it to the other end of the hallway. “Can’t be much.”

“I-I’d never tell you.”

“That’s fine.” Sans sat himself down in front of Chara. “I can wait.”

He didn’t have to wait long. Soon Chara’s whole face went blank, and the little red soul that Sans had shattered so many times floated above the kid’s heart, threatening to shatter again.

A small thought in the back of his head came forward. _What would happen if I absorbed it?_ He had never absorbed a human soul before, and honestly never expected to. His health was so small, anything new was a risk. _Still… What is there to live for in this world? If anything goes wrong, Chara will just RESET._

Looking back, Sans realized that this was a turning point in his life.

He reached out a hand.

And absorbed the eighth human’s soul.


	2. Chapter 2: In which Sans gets stuck with a murder baby for all eternity.

Two souls.

A monster’s and a human’s.

Sans’ and Frisk’s.

 

* * *

 

 

Sans could feel his soul, timid and fearful, let Frisk’s soul combine with his. A bright light enveloped him, starting at the feet and moving up to his skull. The process wasn’t painful, like he expected it to be. Instead, a comfortable warmth spread across his entire body. When the light cleared, Sans’ jaw dropped at the change. His jacket was red with maroon stripes going across it. He felt the hood, and squished the fuzzy rim of it. A heart with red trimming and a white inside decorated the left side of the jacket, glowing unnaturally.

“Yeesh comedian, you look pretty edgy!”

“Heh, you ‘red’ me like an open book.” The pun masked his shock and fear. “But I gotta ask ya,” He turned to face the dreaded voice. “How are you still alive?”

A child, bathed in an evil glow, looked at him in contempt. They looked strikingly similar to the body on the bone-spike, with blonder hair, lighter skin, a green and yellow shirt instead of purple and blue, and glaring blood-red eyes. “Do you like what you see?” Chara hissed, floating around him. “Look at what you’ve done.”

Sans turned away, headed towards the throne room. If anybody knew what to do when a monster absorbed a human soul, it was King Asgore. “Guess I’ve done good then.”

“You robbed me of my only chance and a powerful soul!” They screeched. “A soul I will be taking back.” With that, they flew towards the heart on Sans’ jacket, their face splitting into a terrifying grin. Sans’ arms flew up to protect him, but it did no good. A crushing pressure imposed itself, causing him to double over.

Chara possessed the soul.

But the soul refused.

The pressure alleviated a bit, and Sans was filled with Determination. “I am not,” Darkness was encroaching on his vision. “Going to be possessed,” He shook his head. “By you!” The darkness cleared completely, and Chara was expelled from his soul. Sans stared for a while at the surprised demon child. Then he laughed. “You’re a real chara-cter aren’t you?”

Chara’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ of surprise. “B-but… How!? I-I-” Their eyes lowered and Sans felt an overwhelming sense of dread. “I will make you regret everything you have ever done against me.” With finality, they headed back down the hallway.

Sans, shaking badly, walked with stiff steps towards the throne room. He tried his best to ignore the scream of rage from Chara, and the demon theirself floating back, looking sullen. He really did a commendable job of ignoring them, but soon his patience snapped. “What!?”

They mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Whaddya want?” He was not about to be friendly with his brother’s killer.

“I said we’re stuck together for all eternity!”

Sans’ thought process stopped. Only one question persisted. “Why?”

“It turns out that because I possessed Frisk for so long, any remnants of my soul has fused with Frisk’s. And because you absorbed their soul…”

“Great. Just what I need.” Sans grumbled as he flipped his hood up. “A crazed murder baby following me around.”

“I’m not a crazed murder baby!”

“How many times have you killed us all again?”

Chara stayed quiet for the rest of the trek towards the throne.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, uh, King Asgore?” Sans called as he poked his head into the throne room. To his immense relief, Asgore was kneeled over, talking to something. “King Fluffybuns! It’s me, Sans. You haven’t really met me, but I’m Papyrus’s big bro. Um, I was wondering-”

The king turned to face him, eyes unfocused and glassy. “Please don’t-” He couldn’t get his words out, as something hit him from behind. “Please don’t kill my son!” A bullet appeared above him, flew down, and sent the finishing blow. The crown hit the floor, revealing a small yellow flower whom Sans instantly disliked.

The flower was shivering in a pitiful manner. “S-see Chara? I didn’t betray you! All it took was to tell the old fool who I was, and he refused to fight back! Soon-” It paused, as if seeing the skeleton for the first time. “You’re not Chara…” It said slowly.

A powerful surge of magic built up in Sans. His only hope and the last monster in the Underground, killed by a familiar flower with a face. Power whipped around Sans’ soul, begging to be unleashed on the little creature before him. Weaving the force into the shape of a Gaster Blaster, he focused all of his attention on the terrified golden flower.

But his soul refused.

The flower was wincing, clearly having seen the Blaster taking shape. It cracked an eye open when the end did not come. “Aren’t you…” It squeaked. “Aren’t you going to kill me?”

“Get out.” The whisper was quiet, but it echoed around the empty throne room.

“...What?”

“I said get out!” Sans was angry, confused, and partially convinced he was insane. “Consider this mercy.”

The flower ran away.

After watching this exchange, Chara finally spoke up. “Seriously? You are seriously letting it go, even after it killed your last hope? It should die!”

“No.” Sans disagreed, but he didn’t know why. By all rights, that flower should be killed. “Violence isn’t the answer.” He was sure of this.

“Then what are we going to do now?” Chara demanded testily. “You won’t fight anything, and you can’t Reset-” They stopped mid-sentence, and a light dawned on their face. “Or can you?”

“Nuh uh, no way.” He objected. “I ain’t gonna help you in whatever plot you have now.”

Chara huffed. “Do you want to be completely alone in this timeline?” THey could see Sans’ face crack a bit. “You could see Papyrus again.”

“Fine. Deal.”

“Really, comedian, you make this too easy.” Chara reclined in the air, smirking down at him.

Sans knew he was being toyed with, but if he could see Papyrus again, it would be worth it. He gritted his teeth, then quirked his face up into an insincere smile. Appearances were everything. “How do I Reset?”

“Simple! You just… uh… just… hm. This may be harder than I thought.” Chara lowered their head, deep in thought. All was silent for a few seconds. “I guess be very determined to Reset.” They said lamely.

With a deep sigrh, Sans closed his eyes, and thought about how excited he was to see his brother again and how Determined he was to see Papyrus. Chara was saying something excitedly, and he opened his eye sockets.

A glowing button floated in front of him, the word ‘Reset’ written in big capital letters. _This is it?_ He thought. _This is what has made my life hell?_

“Push it, push it!”

“Alright, alright, hold your Aarons kid.” He gulped, pushed his hand towards the button, and hit… something. Bemused, Sans pushed harder, feeling like he was clawing through some kind of goop. His hand began to vibrate gently. The closer he got to the button, the harder his hand vibrated. Soon it was vibrating so intensely, if he reached the button he might miss it. He pulled his hand back, wiped a bit of sweat from his brow, and looked towards Chara. “This normal?”

“No, it’s not.” They appeared to think some more. “Here’s a thought! You give me your soul, I’ll hit the button, and I’ll give it back to you!”

_That…_

_Little…_

_SHIT!_

With gritted teeth, Sans grabbed his own soul in his magic, then forcibly shoved himself towards the button. HIs arm began to shake again, but to a lesser degree as the power of magic and Determination brought him closer and closer ot the button. HIs fingers were right there! Just one… more… inc-

**Ding**

As the world seemed to erase itself, Sans barely had time to say, “Yes!” before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't nearly as long as the first chapter, and I apologize for that. Criticisms and witticisms are appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3: In which Sans has a very bad day.

A loud thump from the upstairs startled Papyrus out of his breakfast spaghetti, and a boney eyebrow raised in suspicion. “Sans?” He called out, abandoning his plate of spaghetti in favor of chewing his brother out. Scuttling noises echoed down the stairs. “Sans are you alright? You didn’t get another pet did you?” Walking up the stairs he crossed his arms and looked at Sans’ door with a frown on his face. “You can barely take care of yourself or your pet rock, you don’t need another on-“

The door exploded outwards, causing Papyrus to shout in alarm as a red blur shot through the ruined doorway and latched onto him. “Heya, bro.” Sans spoke nonchalantly, but his face betrayed how happy he was, as a huge grin decorated his features.

“G-good morning, brother. You’re up early. And very… red.” Papyrus hesitantly hugged the shorter skeleton back, and looked over Sans’ shoulder at the non-existent door. “Was that amount of force necessary for opening your door? Is there a new door opening method I am unaware about?”

Sans chuckled and hugged tighter. “Never change, Papy.”

“Don’t dust me! You’re hugging me to death!” Papyrus tried to wriggle away, only for Sans to let go suddenly, making him fall over.

“Oh, oh my god, I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry, I didn’t mean to, I-I…”

“Sans.” The taller skeleton rolled his metaphorical eyes, and gently picked him up. “Sans, that was a joke.”

“Oh. Um. Right. I knew that. I was just, heh, _joke_ -ing around.” He coughed, and pulled at the throat of his very red jacket.

Papyrus put down his brother, and squinted his eye-sockets. “Where did you get these? And why do you have face-paint on?”

“Face-paint?” Sans picked up a small mirror that was sitting conveniently in reach. “Huh.” Two red streaks went down each eye, making it look like he did indeed have face-paint on. To his surprise, the orbs in his eyes were replaced by stars. His ‘stars’ shifted over to Papyrus, who was tapping his foot impatiently. “Uh, yeah, about that…”

Papyrus narrowed his eye-sockets again. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

Sans shifted uncomfortably and stammered a bit as he tried to come up with a good answer that would satisfy his brother. Adding to Papy’s confusion, Sans frowned, turned to his left, and began talking, as if somebody was there. “Shush.”

Flitting his eyes from the open air back to Sans, Papyrus shook his head. “Sans, I think you need to go back to bed.”

“What? Why?” He opened his mouth, as he suddenly got it. “I’m not drunk, Papyrus.”

Papy’s eyebrow went up on his face.

“Look, I know I’ve been going to Grillby’s a lot lately but-“

“Sans. Bed.”

“But I-“

Papyrus picked up his older brother and carried him into his room. He laid him on the bed. “Try to get some rest. I’ll have spaghetti waiting for you on the table.” He turned around, flipped off the light, and walked back downstairs, ignoring Sans’ protests. Soon the protests fell silent, and soft snoring began.

The tall skeleton huffed and sat back down at his spaghetti, wild thoughts running around his skull. “So Sans is drinking again.” He said aloud, hoping that his brother would dash down the stairs and assure him it wasn’t true. Maybe ask if they would like to make some spaghetti together? What about some puzzles?

Suddenly Papyrus wasn’t as hungry as he was before.

About two minutes passed when Sans poked his face into the kitchen, yawning and rubbing at his eye-sockets. Papyrus notices this immediately, and quirks up an eyebrow. Just another thing to add to Sans’ list of odd behaviors today. “Mornin’, Paps. What time is it?” He mumbled, walking past Papyrus and opening the cabinets looking for some coffee.

“It’s about two minutes after you went to sleep.” Sans suddenly had a skeletal hand over his forehead. “Brother, you are really starting to worry me! Wearing different clothes, talking to the air, not being able to sleep, and being overly attached! Are you sick? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?” Papy’s eye-sockets were full of fear and compassion, all directed at Sans, who was looking down.

He didn’t answer immediately. He looked like he was listening to something. “Papyrus.” The taller skeleton leaned back, surprised by Sans’ intensity. “What do you do when I’m out?”

“W-well, usually I make spaghetti, go to Undyne’s, watch my carefully laid puzzles, make sure they’re working, you know. Normal stuff that monsters can do by themselves.” Papyrus said unconvincingly.

“Papy.” It was a statement, a pleading one. “Papy what do you do? Please tell me.”

Papyrus lowered his head just a tad. “Wait for you to come back.”

Sans face mirrored one of disgust, and he took a step back. He sharply turned to the right. “You shut up!” His raised voice showed how angry he was, as Sans normally never raised his voice. Ever.

Confused, bewildered, and honestly a bit scared at how Sans was acting, Papyrus reached a decision in his mind. “Sans, I’m going to go to Alphys to not talk to her about your recent bout of insanity.” Preforming an about-face, he walked out of the house, his footsteps receding in the snow.

* * *

The town of Snowdin was understandably curious and concerned in equal amounts about the new relative to the skeleton household. Relative the new skeleton had to be, for he didn’t look anything like the taller one, and while he did share a resemblance to the smaller one, the smaller one didn’t have red streaks near his eyes. The new skeleton must be a cousin to the smaller one that he didn’t mention. So what should the quaint little town do when somebody new comes? Introduce yourself, and hope he doesn’t riddle the forest with puzzles.

Thus Sans had his identity questioned multiple times by monsters who had known him for years. For some reason everyone was gobsmacked when he revealed that he was, in fact, a very familiar skeleton. When lunch began to roll around, he was a bit more than frustrated.

Fortunately he knew a place that would never change no matter how much Frisk’s soul changed his body. “Good ol’ Grillby’s.” He whispered, ignoring Chara’s pretend gag of disgust. Pushing the doors open, he announced his presence in the usual way. “Hey guys.” Sans grinned, waiting for the response of various ways to say ‘Hello Sans!’

Silence. The juke-box flipped a disk over and began to play a song, but otherwise it was silent. He wanted to yell, to scream, to shake them and beg them to remember who he was. Instead, Sans walked over to the bar and gave a strained smile to Grillby. “The usual, Grillbz.”

Patiently Sans waited for Grillby to say something, as it always took him a few minutes to say something. “You have never been here before. I don’t know your preference.” Sans was simultaneously impressed and depressed. On one hand, he had never heard Grillby talk that much before. On the other, it was the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear.

Stumbling back, he fled the familiar bar, ignoring the calls of ‘Stop!’, ‘Wait!’, and ‘Sans?’ He just wanted to be anywhere but there. A burst of magic and he was rolling uncontrollably down a hill somewhere in Snowdin’s forests. A loud crack and swift pain was all he heard and felt before darkness overwhelmed him.

* * *

“-dian! Come on, wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!” Snapping fingers and the high-pitched voice aggravated Sans’ pounding head-ache, making him moan in protest. “Good, you’re alive.” Chara huffed and sat next to him. “Next time you do an unscheduled teleport, make sure it isn’t on the edge of a hill. 

He cracked his eye-sockets open and immediately wished he hadn’t. Bright light attacked his eyes, making his head-ache even worse. “Shouldn’t I be dusted?” He croaked out, surprised at how scratchy his throat was.

“Best I can think of is that Frisk’s soul increased your health. By a lot. Also I wouldn’t move if I was you unless you want to take another tumble down that hill.”

“What, why?” He asked, finally looking around. The problem soon became clear. “I’m leaning against a tree aren’t I?”

“Yup.” Chara responded. “Only way to get back up that hill is to either teleport or climb.”

Grumbling, Sans leaned his head against the tree. “You’re just gonna have to wait, kid. I’m in too much pain to be doing teleports to locations I’ve never been before.” He leaned back and closed his eyes.

Silence.

“Hey comedian?”

“Whaddya want?”

“Did Frisk change anything else about you?” When he cracked open an eye to stare at them, Chara rolled their eyes. “You know, like any new attacks? Higher LOVE? More EXP? Do you feel more powerful?”

Sans shrugged. “Eh, not really. I still feel like I could kick your _ash_ any day of the week.”

Chara opened their mouth to retort, then analyzed that sentence. They narrowed their eyes. “Did… did you just make a pun about an ash tree?”

“ _Wood_ you like me to repeat it?”

“Comedian.” A warning note entered their voice. “Stop.”

Sans’ mouth quirked up into a nearly imperceptible smile. “Wow, you sound like you really wanna be _leaf_ -t alone. Here lemme tell you a joke. This one’s really _poplar_.” As Chara began to scream, Sans’ smile grew wider. “Knock knock.”

Chara shouted ‘No’ over and over again.

“Meh. I’ll take it. Stick.”

The screaming intensified.

“ _Stick_ around, I got _tree_ more jokes like this.”

“Shut up or I’ll stab you!” Chara shouted at him.

Sans looked at them with the look of someone who was trying to take a nap but was being constantly awoken by an annoying pet. “Kid, you’ve already stabbed me. Multiple times. You’ve been _root-_ ing for my death since day one. Oh yeah, that reminds me.” He turned his head so Chara could see the entirety of his face. “How many times did I kill you before you knew my… pattern, I guess?”

Floating around the tree lazily, Chara put a hand to their chin in thought. “Hmm. That’s a toughy, comedian. Hundreds maybe. You stopped counting at eleven.” They mimicked Sans’ Bronx accent. “’That look on your face… Guess I’m pretty good at my job, huh?’ You’re insufferable.”

“Huh. I really was good at my job. Undyne would be proud. I took down the murder-baby all by myself! Lazy Sans ain’t that lazy, is he?”

Chara pulled their arms up to their chest, their teeth gritted. “It took the death of your oh-so-loved brother to get you up off your @#!*% .” Seeing his shocked expression, Chara chuckled evilly. “Oh yes, you were practically useless! If you knew I was such a bad egg from the very beginning, why didn’t you kill me when I was weaker? Huh? If you did, maybe Papyrus wouldn’t have died!” They ignored the red tears welling in his eyes and the dimming of the heart on his jacket. “It’s your fault, comedian! _You_ killed your brother with your laziness! Papyrus would be so much better off without you! Do you even know how much he works to keep you two aloft while you waste all your money at Grillby’s? I’ve seen him!” Chara was screeching now, their face splitting into a terrifying grin as they pounded away at Sans’ defenses. “He works! A lot! Training to be in the Royal Guard doesn’t bring in the gold, idiot! Where did you think it was all coming from?”

“I… I thought… My jobs…” Sans tried futilely to protect himself, but he could feel DETERMINATION ebbing out of him. He could feel the will to live ebbing out of him, because silently he felt that Chara was right. He could’ve been a better brother, and now even hugging Papyrus was considered over-attached. Tears streamed down his face, and he felt his chest constrict with emotions.

“Your jobs? Puh-lease!” Chara scoffed. “Those are only part-time because you take so many breaks! Did you ever wonder why Papyrus only sleeps four hours a night?! It’s because he’s working his @#!*% off trying to keep both of you from bankrupting, _and_ he has to carry his dead-weight brother who does nothing!” Leaning in close, they whispered in his ear. “You’re kind of a terrible brother, and that’s coming from me, the sibling who accidentally got their brother killed. At least for me it was an _accident._ ”

* * *

“Sans, I challenge you to a duel!”

He didn’t understand for a second, his mind wrenched from the pit of despair that it was sitting in. Even after teleporting off the tree and into Snowdin, his skull echoed with Chara’s twisted speech. Therefore, the first words out of his mouth was “What?”

“A duel! I challenge you to it!” Papyrus shouted.

As if in a dream, Sans blinked, shook his head, and squinted at his younger brother. “Um… why?” He said slowly.

“Well, Alphys was out doing something, and I ran into Undyne on my way back. So I did not tell Undyne about your insanity, and she recommended that I duel you and you’ll feel better! At least, I think that’s what she said. So ready yourself brother! For your defeat is at hand!”

Sans looked around uneasily at the gawking residents and the growing crowd. “I’d rather not.” Instead of answering, Papyrus threw a bone at Sans with a ‘Nyeh!’ of effort. Dodging, he narrowed his eye-sockets at the cheering of the crowd, which in turn made even more monsters show up to see the epic show-down of the two skeletons. “Fine.” He huffed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

“You’ve got a _skele-ton_ of my support!” Somebody shouted in a familiar voice.

Sans grinned and flashed finger-guns at the general direction of the voice. He saw a goat person with a huge smile on her face. “And you’ve _goat_ my heart.” She positively beamed, emboldening him. “See Paps?” He said smugly, ignoring Papyrus’s groans of pun pain. “The crowd is on my side.”

“You can do this Papyrus! You’re my hero!” A little kid with no arms yelled from the crowd, causing Papyrus to swell with pride.

“They are clearly choosing the winning side!” He said boisterously, causing half of the audience to cheer.

Beginning to enjoy himself, Sans slouched over a bit more and winked. “Heh, sorry bud. This is a _bone-_ afide winner right here.”

Everyone groaned, some good naturedly, others in complete contempt for the puns. Papyrus scoffed. “Really Sans? Lazy puns to hide how lazy you are?”

_Lazy._

_Lazy Sans._

_You could have saved your brother._

_It’s your fault._

_You kille-_ Sans barely dodged the bone that was thrown at him, lost in thought. When he dodged, great cheers went up as he just realized what he did. In a fabulous moment, he had performed a sort of limbo with Papyrus’s attacks, letting them fall uselessly to the ground further back. Even Chara clapped, admitting to Sans that they were slightly impressed.

A small bead of sweat trickled down Papyrus’s skull. “W-wowie brother! I had no idea you trained too!”

“I know right? I’m really good! Enough maybe to be the Magnificent Sans! Mwehehe!” He laughed heartily, doing his best impersonation of Papyrus’s accent. When no one else laughed and Papyrus just @#!*% his head curiously, Sans shrugged. “Heh, I’m just _rib_ bing ya.”

“Sans!” Papyrus shouted, throwing a few more bones at him, which he masterfully dodged.

Chara leaned down to Sans. “You know you should really fight back.”

He mumbled, “Not. Right. Now.”, as he teleported to the side, to great applause from the audience.

“Come on, comedian! The crowd is dying for something! You are a showman aren’t you?”

“Well yeah, but-“

“Just one hit! Just one! Doesn’t even have to hit that hard. “ Chara begged, reminding Sans very much of a comic that he had recovered from Waterfall. Something about a boy and a tiger.

Sighing, he dodged another bone. He noticed the crowd cheers were getting quieter. Finally Sans came to a decision. _Just a well aimed bone… @#!*% , I can only do 1 damage anyway._ Raising his hand up, a bone levitated from the ground behind Papyrus.

“Decided to fight back, eh Sans?” Papyrus stood tall and laughed. “Prepare to see the Great Papyrus’s dodging!”

“Heh, soon you’re gonna be _skull_ -king.” Sans said as the bone leveled itself with Papyrus’s skull. The crowd hushed it’s collective breath, ready to see the real fight begin.

“What, wh-“

_CRUNCH_

*78912

*Sans reached LV 12!

* * *

Quiet 

Then the crowd quickly dispersed, screaming undeterminable things as they avoided the pile of dust that was Papyrus. Shock flooded Sans’ small frame, and he fell to his knees. Lifting up the dusty red scarf, Sans stared at the one fateful bone that ended everything for his brother. “P… Paps?” He croaked out.

“Huh. For someone who cares so much, you are really accurate with those attacks of yours.” Chara noted dryly. “You hypocrite.”

Quickly folding up the scarf, Sans stuffed it unceremoniously into his jacket, and stumbled off away from the pile. He mumbled something under his breath.

“What was that?” Chara asked, cocking an ear towards them.

“I can RESET.” Sans said louder as he began to run off towards an alleyway.

“Oh really?” They seemed curious. “Do you really think that you can? I mean it took you forever last time.”

“Watch me.” He snapped, bringing up the flickering RESET button, no doubt a by-product of his just-barely-enough DETERMINATION. Soon the syrupy feeling returned as Sans began to push to hit the button. Tears sprung to his eye-sockets as his arm melted slightly, parts of his fingers beginning to drip just a little bit. Chara yelled something, but a ringing sound drowned them out. Turning his soul blue, he once again shoved himself towards the RESET button, gritting his teeth as the ringing and the shouting got louder. “Almost… there!”

* * *

Chara was bored.

The comedian had RESET to their surprise, but had spent a few hours just sleeping in his room, leaving them all alone. As they couldn’t interact with anything, they were stuck just floating in lazy circles around the roof of his room. They had to be content with the look of the comedian when his weak attack pierced the skull of his brother. That was a good day, one of the best they’ve had in fact. A break from monotony to be sure. In all of Chara’s previous SAVE’s, they had never been able to get the comedian to kill his own brother. “Priceless.” They crowed, wishing they could’ve had a camera with them.

“What was, kid?”

His reply caught them off guard, making them jump. “How long have you been awake?” Normally they would love to rub salt in the wound, but they needed to know if the comedian had been awake this entire time.

“Eh, a few hours.”

Chara’s eye twitched. “Seriously? You have seriously just been sitting there awake this entire time?”

“Yup. It was hilarious how frustrated you were getting. Like ya said, priceless.” Sans winked, making Chara grit their teeth. “But I better get up now. Paps is gonna burst in here any second.” Rolling off the bed, Sans got to his feet and dusted his hoodie off. The red heart glowed brightly, reflecting Sans’ bright mood. As he rubbed it down, however, a dusty red bundle fell out of it. “What the…” He grumbled, leaning down to inspect it. Suddenly the situation behind the previous RESET came back in clear reality, and he leaned back in shock. “That’s Papy’s scarf.”

“Huh.” Chara was leaning over his shoulder, inspecting it with him. “That’s new.”

“No it’s not. You’ve seen it so many times I-“

“No, you idiot, usually I can’t bring objects across RESETs.” Chara inspected the dusty fragment of the last RESET. “It’s weird, because I’ve had way more RESETs than you.”

Sans shrugged. “Eh, whatever.” Stuffing it back in his coat, he turned and headed out of his room, smiling the entire time.

“Eh, whatever? Whatever?! This could be serious, comedian!” Chara spluttered as they floated alongside him.

Sans ignored them and looked around his house for his older brother. “Papy? Papy are you awake?” He called out. “Huh. Must’ve caught him when he’s taking one of his naps. That’s fairly rare.”

Huffing, Chara looked at Sans angrily. “Everything about this run is fairly rare! Being able to keep stuff from previous RESETs, Papyrus not being up when he usually is- RESETs are supposed to be consistent, alright, an- Are you even listening to me?!” They screeched as Sans walked down the stairs.

“Nope.” He called, turning into the kitchen. A rustling from the refrigerator indicated he was taking out a morning bottle of ketchup.

“You need to RESET.” Chara said like a mother forcing her child to do homework.

“Kid, I don’t plan on RESETing anytime soon. Last time my hand nearly melted.” He replied through a mouth full of ketchup. “Man, I really want some chocolate right now.”

“You. Are. INSUFFERABLE.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

* * *

“So where are we going?” Chara said through gritted teeth as Sans walked behind their house, no doubt keeping up the pretense that he has ‘Shortcuts’ everywhere.

“To Asgore.”

“Why?”

“Because he could help me.” Sans shrugged as he walked along.

“What?” Chara stopped floating out of shock, and hurried to catch up. “Do you seriously think that Da- that old goat could possibly hope to help you more than I could?”

“Well you aren’t exactly offering your help, so his is the next best thing.” Teleporting to the Judgement Hall, Sans stopped and looked around. “Heh, this brings up lots of memories, don’t it kid?”

“Ah, shut your face.” Grumpily Chara floated ahead of Sans. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“You got it, kiddo.” He strolled through the open doorway to the king’s throne room. Somewhere along, his throat got dry, and each stride became smaller and smaller until soon he was standing in sight of the throne room, feet unmoving.

“Are you scared?” Chara asked, but not in a mocking voice. It was simply a question.

“Y-yeah.” Sans admitted, hand over the heart on his jacket. “What am I gonna say? ‘Oh hey, King Fluffybuns, I absorbed the last human’s soul! The last soul you needed! Oops, my bad.’”

In a monotone voice, Chara responded, face turned away. “You’ll be fine. Dad isn’t mean. He’ll understand.”

“Dad?” But Chara had gone mute. Gulping audibly, Sans rapped his knuckles against the stone walls. He tried to speak, but his voice petered out before one word left his teeth. Working up the courage, Sans spoke again, this time in a stronger voice. “King Fluffy-I mean Asgore? U-um… Are you here?”

A voice commanding obedience came from within. “Hold on for a second. Let me finish watering these flowers.” A few agonizing seconds passed. “Alright, come in. Please don’t be shy.”

Sans peered around the corner, feeling very small when he saw the twelve foot boss monster. It wasn’t as if he had never seen King Asgore before. No, this was just the first time he had ever seen him before while doing something completely illegal. “U-um, hi. Um, my name is soul- I mean Snas-  I mean Sans!”

The king chuckled slightly, putting Sans to rest a little bit. “Please step out of the shadows. It is awfully hard to have a conversation with a ghost.”

If Sans had been braver, he would have disagreed as Chara was right there. However, his heart was in his throat, making all speech nearly impossible. So, with shuddering steps, Sans took a few steps into the king’s view, leaving Chara behind. Asgore’s eyes widened at the sight of the heart on Sans’ chest, making the skeleton curl inwards slightly as the king walked closer to inspect. “Extraordinary.” He mumbled. “If I’m not mistaken, it looks as if you have a human soul.”

“Y-yeah.” In truth, Sans was very relieved to not have to tell the king this.

Staring down his nose at Sans, King Asgore sighed deeply, then put on a smile. “I suppose we should talk about this over a cup of tea. Would you like to come upstairs?”

“No!” He was surprised how forceful an answer came out. “No. I would like it if I could just get this off my chest – heh, no pun intended. – right here.”

“Alright.” Sitting on the ground, Asgore patted the bed of flowers. “Please sit. I would like to hear the entire story.”

And so Sans told the entire story, from first remembering about the RESETs, to fighting the child in the hall and taking their soul. Some parts were left out, such as having a murderous child following him around constantly and his RESETs. Asgore occasionally interrupted with a question, saying things like ‘Hmm.’ Or ‘Yes, I see.’

Finally, Asgore stood up and dusted himself off. “You’ve been through quite the ordeal haven’t you?” Not waiting for a response, the king turned away, deep in thought. “I could send you to the Royal Scientist. Alphys may know how to extract a human soul from a monster. But then again, it might take up a significant amount of health.” The king bit his lip. “Sans, I don’t think I can do anything to help you. What I would recommend is to keep an eye on it.”

Sans couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “So basically, we do nothing?”

“Yes.” Asgore sighed. “Maybe check with Alphys. She might be able to help more than I could.”

Frustrated, Sans closed his eye-sockets. “Thank you for your time, sire.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” Asgore said quietly as Sans stood up to leave. “But remember Sans. If you need anyone to talk to, I will always be here.”

“I… Thank you, sire.” Sans said as he walked out. “Not. A. Word.” He growled to Chara. It turned out that that warning was unnecessary, as it was a very quiet walk to the Hall.

Walking into the bright hall, Sans stopped.

Another Sans stared right back at him.

Both parties seemed surprised. “What the-“ The Sans in front of him mouthed, before quickly fading out of existence.

“Did… Did that just happen?” He asked nobody, while coming to terms that another him had talked to him.

“You’re asking the murderous voice in your head if you saw another you without the help of a mirror?” Chara asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow.

“Fair point.” He admitted. Staring with troubled eyes at the spot where he had seen himself, Sans hurried from the hall, trying to mark up the incident to his insane mind.

But he couldn’t chase the feeling that something very bad had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUUUH *Insert memes here.*


	4. Chapter 4 - In which Sans and Chara have a chat.

“Hey Alphys. You in?” Sans was shaken, tired, and in slight amounts of shock. He rapped his knuckles against the lab doors. While the lab was technically open to the public, it was still Alphys’s home, and most monsters knocked out of courtesy in case she might be doing something. “Alphys, uh, I really need your help. Um, like… I _really_ need your help.”

“But nobody came.” Chara intoned. It would have been creepy to anyone but Sans, who was frankly getting tired with Chara trying to creep him out.

“Ugh, were you like a fucking narrator for Frisk?” He asked as he turned away from the lab.

Artfully deflecting the question, Chara put their hands up to their mouth in mock horror. “Cursing in front of a child? Sans, how low can you go?”

“Kid, I basically performed limbo last RESET. So, uh, pretty low.” The two passed Sans’ station on the border of Waterfall to Hotland. The place drew Sans’ eye, making him remember days in the past when everything was easier.

“So is this one of your sentry stations?” Chara flew around the station, inspecting it critically. “It looks neglected.”

“Mostly I sleep there. So uh, yeah I guess it is neglected a bit.” Sans relished the feeling of the change from Hotland to Waterfall. The much cooler air of Waterfall stung his face, and he loved it. “Hey, maybe if we’re lucky we’ll run into Undyne.”

“You know,” Chara began. “Undyne was the only one who actually posed a challenge to me other than you. She was the only one who managed to kill me multiple times. She really is Undyne the Undying. But then again, she did die, much to everyone’s surprise. I kinda wish I could’ve seen Alphys’s face, but you kno-“

“Oh my god, kid, just shut up. Nobody wants to hear about your weird sadistic tendencies!” As previously mentioned, Sans was getting tired with Chara’s creepiness. Any remnant of a good mood he had had vanished.

“But Sans, they say in any good relationship you need to share your thoughts, and that was my thought.” The fallen human’s eyes fluttered in a flirty manner. “You want this relationship to succeed, yes?”

A bright red crept up along Sans’ neck and soon began to envelop his head. Cheeks afire, he marched ahead of Chara. “Nope!” He yelled as he marched away. “I am one-hundred percent done with you!”

“Not even a kiss?”

His blush increased triple-fold if that was possible. “No!”

And so the two went, Chara occasionally having fun at the expense of Sans, and just when Sans thought his blush would die down Chara would say something scandalous, making the blush come back once more in full force. This was how Undyne found him, much to his mortification.

Landing from an epic jump, Undyne stood in full armor, staring down the bright red skeleton. “Huma- wait a second.” Undyne flipped up the front of her helmet and stared hard at Sans for a second. That second turned into a minute. One whole minute of being stared down. Finally, Undyne’s eyes squinted and she asked, as if not sure, “Sans?”

He energetically nodded, relieved that his friend could recognize him. “Heya Undyne.”

Unprovoked, she burst into loud laughter. “Why do you look like a tomato?” She asked in deep wheezing gasps.

This comment of course made him blush more even as he vehemently denied the very fact. “I do not!”

“You so do!” Wiping a tear from her eye, she finally calmed down enough to talk normally. “So what’s with the new getup? I didn’t even recognize you.” She asked while summoning a spear to lean on casually.

As the blush died, Sans shrugged. “Felt like the hoodie was getting old. Trying out a new look.”

“Cool, cool. You actually look like a warrior in that.” She complimented, smiling toothily down at him.

“Wait what? No I don’t, I’m just wearing a different hoodie.” He pinched a bit of the hoodie and looked down at it, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah,” Undyne admitted. “But I can feel – What did Alphys call it? – detriment?”

“Determination?” Offered Sans.

She snapped her fingers as Sans gave her the word she was looking for. “Determination! I can feel determination coursing through your being! Your soul is strong!” She paused. “Okay, that sounded super sappy. Point is, you look stronger. You feel stronger!” Her voice got up to a shout, and it echoed through Waterfall.

Sans sniggered as he remembered something. “Isn’t that exactly what you told Papyrus when you saw him in his ‘battle-body’?”

The excited look on her face gave way to confusion. “Papyrus?”

“Yeah, you know, my bro?” Something twinged in his soul, and in his peripherals Chara finally began to pay attention to the conversation. “Wants to get into the Royal Guard?” Still nothing. Fear began to nest in Sans’ heart. “He takes cooking lessons with you once a week?”

“Sans.” Undyne stated. “You’ve always been a single child.”

It was as if someone had punched him in the face. “W-what?” Desperate realization dawned on his face. “Oh. This was a joke wasn’t it? Heheh, good one Undyne. You really had me going there for a second.” He flashed her half-hearted finger guns.

“That wasn’t a joke.” Her face was confused and she looked down at him. “You feeling alright?”

“I-I need to go.” Sans stumbled back from Undyne’s outstretched hand and teleported.

 

* * *

 

Cold wind smacked him, waking him up very thoroughly. Purple filled his blurry vision. As his eyes focused a bit more, a door was shaped from the purple mass and recognition hit his brain. Stumbling towards it, he tripped over a stick and face planted on the ground. Chara was being oddly silent about his drunken behavior, only doing a slight chuckle at his face plant. Crawling on his hands and knees, Sans pulled himself up to the door and flipped himself so he was resting against it.

“Knock knock.” He said in a shaky voice, his knuckles connecting with the door twice.

Silence.

“Oh, come on old lady. Knock knock!” His voice began to rise in desperation.

“Who’s there?”

Relief surged through his body. “Skeleton.”

“Skeleton who?”

“Lady, I’m in a skele-ton of trouble.” He didn’t wait for her response. “I need you tell me about Papyrus.”

“Papyrus?” She paused for a second on the other side of the door. “I don’t think I know a Papyrus.”

This wouldn’t have panicked him very much if he didn’t distinctly remember telling her about him. “He’s addicted to making spaghetti. We made his cardboard sentry station out of those little corkscrew looking pasta noodles. I talk about him a lot! Remember last time we met I told you about my brother an-“

“You don’t have a brother. You said so yourself in our last meeting.”

It was as if the world came crumbling around Sans, leaving only him in a void of black. The rest of her words were becoming static as his panic attack set in.

The door muffled the woosh sound, but the woman heard it. “-t would be a pleasure to meet him, I sure, but… Hello? Are you there?”

 

* * *

 

“Papyrus!?” Sans asked, landing in the middle of the living room of his house. The walls seemed garish now, a color painted to mock him. Sweat rolled down his skull as he dashed upstairs, still asking for his brother. “Come on Papy, this isn’t funny!” He flung the door open to Papyrus’s room, expecting to see his brother sleeping in his race-car bed that Sans picked out himself, or maybe enacting battle sequences with his action figures that Sans helped find in Waterfall.

Nothing. The room was completely empty, no race-car bed, no bookshelf, no computer, nothing.

With hot tears beginning to well in his eyes, Sans strode over to the closet and threw open the door. Still nothing. Even his brother’s old clothes were gone, the white t-shirt with the words ‘Good stuff!’ written on it, the pair of jeans, and the blue and orange scarf that Sans had found for him.

Dashing out into the hall and nearly falling down the stairs, Sans ran into his room and fumbled with a picture he kept next to his bed. It was a picture that he and Papyrus had taken when Papyrus had first gotten his battle-body. It was Sans’ pride and joy, and he cherished that picture so much more than Papyrus knew. That’s why even the soul dimmed when he saw half of it – the half where Papyrus was – completely blurred out. So much so that it was impossible to even discern Papyrus’s figure. It just looked like a picture of Sans.

Tears spilled down his face and fell to the ground, as did he. He wrapped the picture up in his jacket and wailed, crying like he hadn’t in a long time. Pent up emotions ran rampant, the fear of the RESETs, the misery watching his brother die multiple times, the betrayal and self-loathing at contributing to the body count. And the whisper, the whisper that he could’ve saved him at the very beginning, but didn’t.

An interminable amount of time passed, and no more tears leaked from his eye sockets. Not because he had come to terms with it, but because he ran out of tears to give. “You okay?” Chara asked, actually sounding compassionate towards him.

“N-no.” He sniffled, shuffling from his room to the kitchen downstairs.

“There’s a chocolate bar in the pantry. Not sure how long it’s been there, but you know… it’s chocolate. It doesn’t go bad.” They helpfully informed him.

Levitating open the pantry door, a still-wrapped chocolate bar floated out to meet Sans’ outstretched hand. He reached into the fridge and pulled out some ketchup. When he opened the chocolate bar, he poured ketchup all over it and took a huge bite.

Chara’s face twisted in disgust. “What are you doing?!”

“I don’t know!” He bawled through an open mouth as he poured more ketchup on the chocolate.

Patiently Chara sat beside the blubbering mess, waiting for him to calm down a bit and finish his disgusting snack. They tried to convince themselves that they really didn’t care about the idiot, but they still felt a lot less satisfied about his misery than the first time. Maybe it was because they had dealt with this sort of pain before. Familial pain. The pain of losing someone who meant everything. Or at least, they had seen it before through a fever dream. The look of grief and anguish as they slipped away… Chara shivered and turned their attention back to Sans. He seemed to have calmed down, if only slightly.

And was staring directly at Chara, eyes blank and cold, smile getting so wide they swore that his jaw cracked. “You know…” He said slowly, as if easing into a topic both would rather leave alone. “This is all your fault in a way.”

“ _My_ fault?” Chara stared at him in surprise and contempt. “How in the world is Papyrus disappearing _my_ fault?”

“Let’s list the facts, shall we kid?” A boney hand went up, and so did a number of ketchup bottles caught in his telekinesis. “ _One._ ” A bottle exploded, sending glass shards and ketchup spattering across the walls and making Chara jump. “You possessed an innocent kid, who I’m certain gave us all a good ending once or twice. You took that away from us. _Two._ ” Another bottle exploded directly behind Chara, causing them to shout in alarm. “You RESET the world multiple times and for what? For your amusement? Did you just want to see us suffer?!” His voice was raising in anger now, and Chara blanched. “And _three!_ ” He dropped all of the remaining bottles on the floor and stalked close to the child. “You. Murdered. My. Brother.” Sans said in a deathly calm voice.

Then all hell broke loose.

Chara rocketed out of the kitchen as the fridge and the sink began to float upwards, surrounded by the red glow of Sans’ powers. True, they were incorporeal and couldn’t be touched by his outburst, but it was still terrifying to witness. Items in the living room began to float upwards and get crushed. The TV turned from a flat-screen into a small sparking ball in less than a second. Errant bones formed and vanished, leaving holes in the walls. Even a Gaster Blaster formed and deformed rapidly, unsure whether or not it wanted to stay in this realm. All throughout this horror story, a terrible shrieking was originating from the kitchen, causing the hair on the back of Chara’s neck to stand up. Peeking into the kitchen, they saw the fridge was the cause of the shrieking noise, being compressed into a tiny ball about the size of their hand.

Sans was floating in the air, angry red tears dropping to the floor. A look of anger and… something else decorated his features. Chara’s eyes widened at the noticeable gouges above his eyesockets and the fine dust falling from his fingers. Normally they would have loved seeing him in pain, but- no that was a lie. They didn’t like seeing him in pain. They didn’t like seeing anyone in pain. The carefully woven lies to make Chara feel nothing at their unspeakable atrocities was fraying, and they hated it. “There’s more important things at hand than how I feel!” They hissed to themselves, sneaking a peek at Sans again. “The only way to make him calm down is…” Chara sighed deeply. “To tell the truth.”

Pushing themselves into the kitchen, Chara flew right in front of Sans’ face. It seemed to make him angrier. “Comedian! Listen to me! You’re hurting yourself!”

Through gritted teeth, Sans glared hatefully up at them. A dozen Gaster Blasters formed behind him. “Why should you care?! You only want to end everything…”

Nervously glancing at the blasters out of the corner of their eyes, Chara shook their head. “I don’t! I don’t want to end everything!”

But Sans wasn’t listening. His fingers, dusty and crackling with energy, snapped and a formidable wall of bones appeared behind him. “You’re just saying that. You don’t care about me. You don’t care about monsters. You don’t care about Papyrus.” His voice hitched at his brother’s voice.

“Then why did I check on you when you had fallen and hit your head on the tree last RESET? Why did I care whether or not you were alive? Listen to me!” They pleaded.

Sans didn’t answer. The bones behind rotated to face Chara head on, their ends sharpened to a wicked point.

In a last ditch effort, Chara said what had been on their mind since this whole nasty business began, since they first killed a monster possessing Frisk. “I didn’t want to kill Papyrus! I don’t want to hurt anyone!” Now tears were began to form in their eyes as they were forced to face what they had done.

The outburst was enough to silence him, or at least make him pause. “What?” Sans finally said, the bone wall lowering and a few of the blasters disappearing.

Sniffling, Chara wiped their nose. “Do you wanna see the stars, comedian? The real stars?”

 

* * *

 

Speechless. That’s all Sans was and all he could’ve been. Simply speechless. Thousands of glittering lights winked and waved at the stunned monster as wind gently caressed his face. “I never thought I’d get to see this.” He said quietly as he sunk to the ground.

Chara tilted their head away from him slightly.

This little movement did not go unnoticed. “What’s with that face? Am I wrong…?”

After a few silent moments, Chara nodded their head. “You did get to see this. At least, once upon a time.”

“What happened to that, kid? Why’d you take away our happy ending?” Instead of anger, Sans traded it for melancholy. “Papyrus would’ve loved the stars.” He said quietly, sinking his face into his knees.

“It… I… Oh jeez.” They swiped at the water gathering around their eyes, hoping Sans wouldn’t notice. Patiently Sans waited for them to collect themselves. “I… there was a reason I… killed everyone.”

“Really now? So it wasn’t just because you’re a psychopath?” He scoffed. “Kid, you’d murder your own mother, father, _and_ broth-“

“Shut up!” Chara interrupted violently, eyes ablaze in fury. “Just shut up! I don’t care about you, or your brother, or any of you stupid monsters! I’ll… I’ll… I’ll kill you! Again and again and again! And I won’t regret it! I’ll RESET and RESET and RESET and… and…” With each word, their voice got weaker and weaker. Soon enough, they were just barely croaking out words, and with a grinding halt, they stopped.

It was silent. Sans stared in offended horror at the child and stood stiffly up. “Kid.” He said quietly. “I didn’t come up here to stargaze. I came up here to talk to you about what you said back in Snowdin. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. We’re both tired of fighting each other, don’t try to deny it. But I’m still the judge. So please, kid, for the love of God, please, give me something to spare you for. I don’t want to kill you again.”

Chara stared at him, the anger fading from their eyes. Soon tears filled their eyes and they laughed softly. “Frisk’s soul did change you. You’re giving me mercy, even after all I’ve done. You wouldn’t’ve done that before.”

A pause, pregnant with emotions. Sans sat down again, eyes fixated on them. “Tell me everything.”

“I hate humanity.” They said right off the bat. “I hate everything about them. They’re selfish, cruel, uncaring, unfeeling, and they only do stuff to help themselves without fail. They’re creatures of spite. They’ll kick someone in the teeth while the other person is down for the count.”

“You’ve had some pretty rough experiences with them, huh kid?” Sans said, then immediately regretted saying that due to the look of pure hatred on Chara’s face. “Alright, sorry, won’t talk again.”

Biting down a retort, Chara looked to the side and for the first time, a smile, genuine, small, and hopeful danced on their lips. “And then I fell down here. To monsters. To a… family. They were so… forgiving and understanding. They cared when I fell down and broke my elbow.” They chuckled slightly at the memory. “Asriel thought I was dying, the poor crybaby. He bawled for a good twenty minutes while he ran to get Mom, and then cried another two hours even after she healed me. He thought it was his fault I got hurt.”

The smile swiftly left and was replaced by a look of seriousness. “Comedian, what would you do for your brother?”

Without hesitation, he replied, “Kill a kid a few hundred times, then get killed myself, then eventually absorb a human soul that could’ve gotten us out of here, and then RESET the timeline. So, uh, quite a bit.” Sans chuckled too, and they quickly turned to sobs. “And that _still_ wasn’t enough.”

“You understand then?” Chara asked. “You understand the desperation? The fear? The _determination_ at saving him?”

“Yes. Yes I understand. I would do anything to get him back.”

“ _Anything_?”

“Anything.”

Carefully monitoring his reaction, Chara laid out the bombshell. “Even commit genocide?”

He almost agreed. Almost. “K-kid… You ain’t telling me…”

Pulling up their knees, Chara stared out at the stars. “I never had that before, you know? Unfaltering love and support. If I couldn’t work for my stay, they still loved me. Broke my arm? It’s all ‘You poor child!’ and not ‘Well feeding them was a lost cause.’

“When I heard the story about how you all got stuck down here, it only made me angrier. How dare they? How dare they turn on an entire race because of what they could do, but never did before?” Their fists clenched and unclenched. “I wanted to help. And then I realized, I could! I had a human soul, even though I didn’t want to be a human. I still had a strong soul. To get to it, a monster had to take it from my body after death, which meant I had to die.” Their face split into a wide grin as they laid their plans out bare. “Now I knew that no monster would ever willingly kill me. I was the King and Queen’s child after all, so murder was out of the question. I could’ve always attacked somebody and had them kill me out of self-defense, but that plan was too risky.”

“Are you telling me that you seriously considered attacking somebody just so that they could kill you?” Sans asked, mouth agape.

“Yup! I even had a list of the monsters who would provide the most favorable outcomes, but like I said, that plan was too risky.”

“And you see nothing wrong with that?”

“Nope!”

He pushed some breath out from his teeth. “Just checkin’.”

Chara continued. “Suicide was too direct. Too… noticeable. Asriel wouldn’t be on board with it.

“So that left the option of something that could be construed as an accident. What would nobody question? What would people chalk up to fate?” They grinned widely. “Poison. And it just so happened that Dad liked Golden Flower Tea. The King’s and Queen’s poor, innocent, naïve child, who didn’t know that the flowers were poisonous. What a shame.”

“So you poisoned yourself.” Sans stated. “What about Asriel?”

“Asriel.” Chara repeated, the grin dropping off their face. “I tricked him. I knew he wouldn’t go along with the plan if I told him about it, so I just didn’t tell him. I knew him well enough to know exactly what he would do.”

“Oh jeez, kid.” Sans sighed once more. “What went wrong?”

Chara scoffed. “I love my brother, but he’s a dunderhead. Too soft. Too merciful. Right before I died I made up a stupid story about how I’d like to see the surface again. Of course he bought it, and when I died, he fused with my soul to let us through the barrier. What went wrong was Asriel. The humans attacked us, thinking that Asriel had killed me. I begged- no, demanded that he kill them! At least kill enough humans to break the barrier. But that _damn_ fool wouldn’t kill!” Tears leaked down Chara’s face. “He went back through the barrier, hurt and dying. And then he did. He died, right in front of Mom and Dad.”

“Must’ve been tough.” Sans added, staring at the stars.

“It was.” Here the story stopped as Chara gathered their words. “I… I don’t know what happened to me. I was just… floating around for a while, I guess. Not really here, but not really gone either. I remember that something… called to me. A will to survive, no matter the odds. Apparently that was named DETERMINATION. It was being given off of by a kid. _That_ kid.” Prodding the heart on Sans’ chest, Chara heaved a sigh. “I followed them for a while. They made friends with you, and Pap-…Mom and Dad, even Undyne. Everything was going great for them.

“Eventually they reached a... flower thing that took six of the human souls. That really messed me up, because it messed around with my DETERMINATION. I don’t remember that battle, but suddenly, in a rush, I was back! The kid had gone back in time somehow, returning to Hotland after the flower incident. We went to Alphys’ secret lab and…” They paused. “What’s up comedian? You look like you know something.”

Indeed, Sans did know something. His eyes widened. “She’s not been continuing the DETERMINATION experiments, has she?” Wordlessly, Chara nodded. “Oh my god.” The pinpricks of light darted around his eye-socket, working out to the best of his ability exactly what had happened. “Let me guess,” He said finally, defeated. “There was a bunch of melted monsters in there, right?”

“Actually yeah. How did you… you know what, nevermind, you know way too much normally.” Scowling, Chara attempted to interact with a rock, their hand passing through it. “Anyway, Frisk went through there, became buds with Alphys, helped Weeaboo 1 hook up with Weeaboo 2, confronted Asgore, and Mom, Alphys, Undyne, everyone arrived and said to not fight, and it was fantastic!” Once again, their smile shone out, radiant and rare. It soon flickered out like a moth dying on a candle-flame.

A long silence enveloped the two. “Until?” Sans gently prodded.

“Until the flower got a hold of the human souls again _and_ nearly every monster’s.” Tears spilled out, and Chara leaned down, trying to hide their face. “And then I found out… it was Asriel. The flower was Asriel, and he was still alive. I could save him. We could have a happy ending. _Our_ happy ending. And do you know what my ticket was?”

Sans put a tentative finger on the soul on his chest.

“Exactly! I tried to possess them, but it didn’t work. They were too determined to be possessed by me right then. Right then being the operative word.” A grin, much unlike the previous ones danced across Chara’s face. A shiver went down Sans’ spine. “The next run, however… They began the genocide run. Not me. Keep that in mind.”

Sans stared, stunned at this new revelation. “So… I’m surrounded by… murderers?” He grinned, tears beginning to well in his eyes. “Well… dammit.” He said, unable to come up with a proper response.

Chara ignored him, barreling through their story. “I could feel their soul getting weaker, their mind snapping a bit more every time they killed a monster. Around Snowdin, they collapsed, whispering that they couldn’t do it anymore. It was my chance! I came to them, giving them confidence, my small supply of left-over DETERMINATION, slowly edging myself into their soul. Soon I had full control. I stopped killing, but then I got shunted out of their soul, and we saw that stupid flower ending.” Their voice quieted down to a whisper, eyes downcast. “I waited. I waited until they tried that run again. Eventually the kid did, and I… well… I didn’t hold back this time. If that’s what I had to do to get to Asriel, I’d do it.”

“Did it work?” Sans asked in a voice that betrayed that he knew the truth.

Chara snorted, which turned into hiccups as they cried harder. “Of course not. He only shows up in that run. But I couldn’t! I couldn’t possess the kid in that run, the one I call the True Pacifist run. I can only possess them in the Genocide run, and he doesn’t appear there! He might eventually though! He could absorb the six souls, an-and he could ab-absorb mine an-and… and we could be happy. It could be our happy ending. I just have to keep trying. I just have to keep trying!”

A silence dropped on them.

Finally breaking it, Sans looked upward and said, quietly. “It’s not going to work. You know this. This was simply your excuse.”

Chara nodded slowly as they tried to bite their lip and not cry anymore. “I’m sorry.” They whispered. “I’m so sorry, Sans. I’m so sorry. I ruined everything. Mom would be ashamed and disappointed. Dad would throw me out. Asriel would… Asriel would hate me for what I’ve done.” Nestling down into their sweater, they sobbed, “I’m sorry, Asriel…. I’m sorry, bro…”

The two sat out on the ground and cried, one for the brother they lost long ago, and one for the brother who just recently disappeared from his life.

The stars went down and they saw the sunrise through tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took entirely way too long. I apologize.


End file.
